4. Background. In order to meet the needs of information sharing and helping to train State staff, the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is sponsoring three conferences to familiarize attendees with national policies and to prepare attendees to train local area staff within their own States. These conferences are intended to:

- clarify the Department’s policy on common measures for programs under WIA, Wagner-Peyser, VETS and the Trade Act;

- review the final reporting changes necessary for each program in order to accommodate the common measures;

Materials provided at these conferences will help State training teams (as described below) communicate a common, consistent message from the national level through the States to the local workforce areas. These materials were developed by ETA in collaboration with DOL’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS).

5. Locations. The conferences will be held, one each, in the following locations:

Each of the conferences will begin at approximately 8 a.m. on Tuesday and will end on the following Thursday at approximately 4 p.m. In general, the sessions will run from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. due to the breadth and depth of materials and information. Presenters include staff from ETA’s Office of Performance and Technology, Office of Workforce Investment and Office of National Response, and the Regional Offices. In addition, State staff have been invited to share specific information on benchmark practices.

6. Training Teams.Program administrators and staff responsible for performance management, who represent ES, VETS, WIA, NEG and TAA programs should attend these conferences. This national effort is based on the premise that States are the primary providers of technical assistance to their local workforce investment areas. Therefore, the target audience will be State training teams designated by each State agency, which will be responsible for providing similar training and instruction throughout their respective States. We urge States to consider their training teams as strategic investments in the State’s workforce system.

Each training team should have representation from each of the covered program areas, and we strongly recommend that State agencies include local area representatives on their training teams, to assist in disseminating training widely.

Due to space considerations, State training teams should consist of no more than 15 persons.

7. How to Register. A website has been established to facilitate the conference registration process. Each State attendees should register on line at:

Attendees are responsible for making their own hotel reservations. Room and tax charges, along with all incidental charges, are the responsibility of each individual and must be paid upon departure. At each conference location, a block of rooms will be held under the name U.S. Department of Labor – Program Reporting and Performance Management Conference.

9.Action. State Workforce Administrators are requested to share this Letter with State program administrators representing each of the covered program areas, as well as interested local area staff. In addition, each State agency should consider thoughtfully the membership on their respective training teams and register each member of their team at www.nelrod.com/usdolconferences, or fax completed registration forms to:

Frances Rodriquez
The NELROD Company
817.922.9100

10. Inquiries. Questions about the Program Reporting and Performance Management Conferences may be directed to Cheryl Svee on 312.596.5459. Questions or comments about the format of this Letter may be directed to Tom Coyne on 312.596.5435.